A few weeks ago, I was reviewing Lake Bell’s In A World(click here to read) and I noted that most on-screen actors easily transition into voice-overs, but that it doesn’t happen the other way around. I wrote:

“Have you ever seen a full-time voice actor land a major role in a motion picture? I haven’t.”

Well, I was wrong.

Weeks later, I discovered the 2010 movie Hello Lonesome. If you’re a Netflix user, the DVD is easy to find.

In it, real-life voice-over artist Harry Chase plays a… real-life voice-over artist. He’s Bill Soap, a cantankerous, lonely man, longing to make amends with his estranged daughter after his wife suddenly left him. His most regular contact with the outside world is an opera-loving delivery guy.

That’s not the synopsis of the entire movie, though. Bill is just one of the six characters who populate this picture, and there are three different and equally touching story lines.

Self-financed with a $50,000 budget and completed in only 15 days, the movie was written, produced, shot and directed by Adam Reid. Adam got his start writing and producing promos for Comedy Central including South Park and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He is currently the Executive Creative Director of the production company Bodega Studios in New York City.

The New York Times called Hello Lonesome a…

“smart, poignant trilogy of interwoven vignettes” that “manages the considerable feat of creating six fully human characters who are quirky enough to transcend the stereotypes found in a typical indie film.”

On the movie website, Adam Reid writes:

“As a promo producer I have worked with a lot of voice over artists. I think a lot of us wish we could have that kind of life. From the outside, it’s a lazy persons paradise: Wake up, crawl to a sound proof booth in your basement, read out loud into a microphone and get paid handsomely for it.

Bill Soap is the center of our three-ring circus. We cast real life voiceover Harry Chase and shot on location at his home. (It’s worth noting that Harry happens to be a wonderful husband and father, unlike his character, but does occasionally report to work in his underwear.)

Each story in Hello Lonesome is a parable. I wanted all of the characters to be very real and believable, and at the same time, this is a movie about how the smallest communication can change your life. In Bill’s case, that’s quite literal. He’s isolated himself and is now trapped in his own voice over booth.”

WHO IS HARRY CHASE

Adam Reid, Harry Chase and Julia Reisen

Chase has over 30 years experience in the business, and you’ll probably recognize him as the voice of Captain Morgan’s Rum. His work includes feature film trailers as well as spots for Quiznos, Sony Vaio, Disney on Broadway, CNN, CBS, Lifetime, Sci-Fi and National Geographic.

Harry’s voice can also be heard in video games such as “Grand Theft Auto IV” and as Gandalf in “The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar.” Harry won a “Best Voice Over” Golden Trailer Award for his work on the movie trailer for “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” starring Brad Pitt.

THUMBS UP OR DOWN

Just like In A World is not a documentary about voice-overs, Hello Lonesome tells stories that revolve around relationships. It’s an intimate movie about loss, loneliness and human connection.

It does take us inside Harry Chase’s sound booth. We watch him at work during several ISDN sessions, and it’s clear that he is in his element. Without giving too much away, I can tell you that his studio plays an important part in one of the plot lines.

Once he is outside of the voice actor’s comfort zone, Chase proves to be a natural. At no point did I get the feeling that he was acting (which is the highest compliment I can pay a colleague). In fact, he sounded more himself and less of a movie trailer man when he wasn’t using his shotgun mic, but was teaching the delivery man how to fire a rifle.

“Shot simply, acted without fuss, Hello Lonesome is alternately funny, wistful, tragic and suspenseful. Reid does a lot with a little – and has crafted a small beauty of a film with his first try.”

I couldn’t have said it any better than that.

Hello Lonesome won the Best Ensemble Jury Award at the Los Angeles Film Festival, as well as a number of other awards. It is now available on iTunes and you can get the DVD through Netflix. Click here if you want to buy this brilliant movie.

A few years ago, entrepreneur and New York Times contributor Jay Goltz asked owners of failed small businesses what had gone wrong.

Guess what?

Most of them didn’t really have a clue.

To a certain extent that’s not surprising. Had they known what the problem was, they might have been able to fix it.

Some owners were in denial. Instead of acknowledging their own responsibility, they blamed the economy, the current administration, the bank or an idiot partner. Never themselves.

In many cases, Goltz noted that (ex) customers had a much better understanding of what went wrong. The owner still had his stubborn head in the sand.

Over the years, I’ve counseled quite a few struggling voice-overs who were ready to give up. Without exception they were sweet, well-intentioned and hard-working people. Some of them were even talented. And like the folks Goltz interviewed, they were wondering why their new career was going down the drain.

TAKE LARRY

Larry called himself a victim of the recession.

Read the rest of this story in my new book. Click on the cover to access the website and get a sneak peek. Use the buttons to buy the book.

When you think of it, aren’t they just letters, arranged in a certain order? Or are there words in our language that are so potent, that they have the potential to transform our life and our livelihood?

Now, before you think that I’ve gone all philosophical instead of practical, just STOP for a moment and think about it.

In the past few days I’ve asked some of my friends about words they feel have had (and still have) a profound impact on their professional lives. Here are some of the words they came up with:

Faith

Fear

Confidence

Creativity

Luck

Love

Play

Passion

As for me, the one word that has been my guiding light in the past 25 years as a freelancer, is neither grand nor deep. Yet, I believe it to be one of the most powerful words in our vocabulary. Without it, my career certainly wouldn’t be where it is today. It consists of two letters.

Read the rest of this story in my new book. Click on the cover to access the website and get a sneak peek. Use the buttons to buy the book.

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